Kristen Bell Sings Frozen at a Savannah Bananas Game — with a Broadway Pitcher and a Dirty Dancing Lift
Kristen Bell took the field at a Savannah Bananas game in Denver on Saturday, August 16, 2026, and sang "For the First Time in Forever" from Frozen in a surprise mashup performance Deadline. Her duet partner was Bananas pitcher Derek Klena, who answered with "Dancing Through Life" from Wicked — a song he knows well, having played Fiyero Tigelaar on Broadway Deadline.
The mashup did not stop there. Bell and Klena also performed "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" from Dirty Dancing, complete with the lift — the famous overhead carry that closes the film Deadline. The Bananas posted video of the performance on Instagram with the caption "The mashup we never knew we needed" Deadline.
The Savannah Bananas are a barnstorming exhibition baseball team known for mixing choreography, costumes and showmanship into their games. Their Denver weekend at Coors Field drew a record-breaking crowd, according to a post on the team's Instagram account Instagram. The team had teased Bell's involvement a day earlier, posting a reel on August 15 that showed her holding a banana with the caption "This us in Denver!!" and directing followers to watch CBS Colorado's 9 p.m. broadcast for coverage Instagram.
Klena's path to the Bananas roster runs straight through Broadway. The team scouted him in December after theatre runs in Jagged Little Pill (for which he earned a Tony nomination), Moulin Rouge!, Sunset Boulevard and Wicked Deadline. A Tony nomination is the theatre world's highest peer recognition; Klena now splits his time between the stage and the Bananas' pitching staff.
Bell, for her part, needed a little help with the height gap. In a CBS Colorado interview posted as an Instagram reel on August 15, she explained that she stands on a box during performances because the players are much taller than she is Instagram. Us Weekly also reported on the surprise appearance, with writer Miranda Siwak calling it an "epic Frozen mashup" Us Weekly.
For fans of Bell, the appeal is obvious: the voice behind Anna from Frozen singing her signature song on a baseball diamond. For Bananas regulars, it is the latest in a run of celebrity walk-ons that the team has built its brand around. Either way, the combination of a Disney princess, a Broadway pitcher and a Dirty Dancing lift is not something a baseball crowd expects to see between innings.
